A National Practice Devoted To Complex Federal Criminal Defense, Federal and State Habeas Litigation And Other Federal Matters. 

Ezekiel E. Cortez is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization after passing the federal specialist examination.

As a devoted career criminal defense attorney, Mr. Cortez has unwaveringly devoted his practice to the defense of federal criminal cases and other federal matters since 1984. Since 1988 Mr. Cortez has also engaged in Habeas Litigation of selected federal and state cases.

Mr. Cortez's legal ability and ethical conduct have earned the highest peer-review rating available from Martindale-Hubbell - an AV rating. ("A" rates Mr. Cortez's legal ability as "Very High to Preeminent"; "V" rates his ethical conduct as the highest ethical standard possible).

For over a decade, Mr. Cortez has been continuously listed in The Best Lawyers In America- a national standard of excellence for the legal profession. Mr. Cortez has been listed in San Diego Magazine's "Best Lawyers In San Diego" in 2001 and 2005-2008 as one of only a handful of elite criminal defense lawyers described by the magazine as the type of lawyer that other "attorneys would go to if they needed a [federal criminal defense] lawyer." Mr. Cortez was also listed in Super Lawyers for the 2008 and 2007 edition of California: San Diego, Criminal Defense: White Collar category as one of the "Seriously Outstanding Top 5%" in his field.

As an ambassador for his profession, Mr. Cortez was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in October 2003 by the State Department to teach trial techniques to defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges at the University of Concepcion, in Chile. Mr. Cortez has taught Criminal Justice Administration at San Diego State University and at MGU (Moscow University) in Moscow, Russia and has also taught trial techniques at the University of San Diego School of Law and at California Western School of Law and has taught advanced trial techniques for CACJ, NACDL and various trial institutes.